The Secretariat of the 2003 Convention in the framework of its global capacity-building programme is organizing an online Training of trainers for selected members of the facilitators network in Africa on how to support the roll out of the periodic reporting process in the region in 2023. The trainings will take place over three days and seek to reinforce the network of facilitators in Africa and mobilize them to co-facilitate the training for periodic reporting country points in the region in 2023.

The training is the first stage of a two-stage process for the capacity-building approach on periodic reporting in Africa in 2022-2023. In the second stage, a regional training will be organized with country focal points designated by their countries to equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to carry out periodic reporting in their countries in line with the Convention’s Overall results framework.

This workshop will take place from 17 to 26 October in Banjul, The Gambia. It will comprise three parts. In part 1, the training will be targeted to Gambian media specialized in culture and will provide an introduction to the 2003 Convention and their role in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. In part 2, the training will be targeted to Gambian heritage experts, community representatives and key government technical staff and provide a training on community-based inventorying, under the 2003 Convention, including its ethical considerations, methods and techniques. In part 3, a pilot inventorying exercise will be undertaken with communities in the Banjul area. The activity is being undertaken in the framework of the extrabudgetary project ‘Capacity-building for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and contributing to sustainable development’ being funded through an earmarked contribution to the Fund from the Government of France.

On 5 September, UNESCO Beijing Office and the International Training Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (CRIHAP) successfully concluded the second workshop on capacity-building for intangible cultural heritage (ICH) safeguarding for youths, as part of the joint three-year strategic plan that kickstarted in 2021. The workshop was participated by almost 150 young participants and observers aged between 18 and 28, coming from 32 universities in China, Japan, Mongolia and Republic of Korea.

Director of UNESCO Beijing and UNESCO Representative to China, DPRK, Mongolia, Japan and ROK, Professor Shahbaz Khan, and CRIHAP’s Director-General Liang Bin attended the opening session of the training workshop.

Prof. Shahbaz Khan emphasized the great importance that UNESCO has paid to youth in recent years, and recalled a number of youth-targeted programs that have been developed to encourage youth to play a role in fulfilling the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Mr. Liang Bin highlighted the rationale for the three-year training program to help youths explore ICH elements in their daily life and actively participate in ICH transmission and safeguarding.

Running between 1 August and 5 September, the workshop built upon the successful modality used last year. Following the online classes led by two UNESCO 2003 Convention accredited facilitators, Ms. Deirdre Prins-Solani (South Africa) and Ms. Linina Phuttitarn (Thailand), the participants conducted a two-week fieldwork to discover, select and record intangible cultural heritage elements, ICH-related events and personalities. The fieldwork component aimed to establish a connection between the youth and ICH, to deepen their understanding of ICH and to raise their awareness and enthusiasm to safeguard, promote and inherit intangible cultural heritages through various types of interaction. The participants benefited from technical guidance and expertise of international facilitators, as well as support from local coordinators. After the fieldwork, the participants submitted 50 videos, covering important themes under the 2003 Convention such as ICH and transmission, ICH and creative industries, ICH and education, and ICH and new media.

In addition to the provision of new knowledge and skills on the importance of living heritage, its contribution to sustainable development and safeguarding measures, the workshop has also created an exchange opportunity and established a communication platform among the youth for the future. As youth remains an important target group for the work of the United Nations in general and UNESCO in particular, future capacity building opportunities will be organized by CRIHAP and UNESCO Beijing during the last few months of 2022, including an ICH safeguarding workshop in Mongolia and an ICH and climate change workshop at the Asia-Pacific region.

Call for proposals

The UNESCO Living Heritage Entity is looking for a team of experts/evaluators to carry out a renewal evaluation of the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in South-Eastern Europe, a UNESCO Category 2 Centre based in Sofia, Republic of Bulgaria.

Proposals should reach UNESCO (ICH-capacity@unesco.org) by 31 July 2022.

More information in English

Extended deadline Call for expression of interest

In the context of the crisis in Ukraine, UNESCO is supporting the resilience of Ukrainian school children by enhancing awareness for their living heritage. In this context, UNESCO is looking for a qualified and experienced team/organization to carry out a series of activities to adapt the UNESCO resource kit on teaching and learning with living heritage to the Ukrainian contexts.

A response to the call should be sent to UNESCO (ich-capacity@unesco.org) by 20 July 2022. The starting date for this work should be as soon as possible and the work should be delivered by February 2023.

More information in English

Together with the UNESCO Offices in Apia and in Kingston, the Living Heritage Entity is organizing the Inter-regional inception workshop for the project ‘Capacity-building for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in emergencies in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific and the Caribbean’, which is funded through the Japanese Funds-In-Trust. The workshop is held online with participants from different time zones:
3:30 pm – 5:30 pm (Belize, UTC-6) 7 April 2022
4:30 pm – 6:30 pm (Jamaica, UTC-5) 7 April 2022
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm (Bahamas, Jamaica UTC-4) 7 April 2022
11:30 pm – 01:30 am (France, UTC+2) 7/8 April 2022
8:30 am – 10:30 am (Vanuatu, UTC+11) 8 April 2022
9:30 am – 11:30 am (Fiji, UTC+12) 8 April 2022
10:30 am – 12:30 pm (Samoa, Tonga, UTC+13) 8 April 2022

The objective of the workshop is to launch this three-year project by bringing together key project actors from the five beneficiary SIDS - the Bahamas and Belize in the Caribbean, and Fiji, Tonga, and Vanuatu in the Pacific – and to build a shared understanding of the project, which aims to integrate intangible cultural heritage safeguarding into disaster risk reduction strategies through capacity-building approaches.

The Arab States is the third region to develop country reports on the implementation of the 2003 Convention under the reformed periodic reporting mechanism. Based on the successful implementation of the capacity building for periodic reporting in Latin America and the Caribbean (2020), and Europe (2021), UNESCO has further innovated this training course and is delivering it for the first time in a hybrid format in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (21-25 March). This was made possible thanks to the generous support provided by the Sharjah Institute for Heritage.

His Excellency, Dr Abdulaziz Al Musallam, Chairperson of the Sharkah Institute for Heritage, inaugurated this important gathering of focal points for periodic reporting from 18 Arab States.

The focal points will discuss the 2003 Convention’s periodic reporting mechanism, strengthen their knowledge and skills to design and implement results-based participatory reporting, and become familiar with the new online periodic reporting tool. The workshop will provide an occasion for peer learning, networking, and strategic discussions amongst participants, with the participation of the UNESCO programme specialists for Culture in the region. Thanks to the hybrid format team members of each focal point are joining online thus further enriching the discussions. The course will be led by senior members of UNESCO network of facilitators for the 2003 Convention.

After the five-day training workshop, the focal points will be accompanied by UNESCO facilitators to carry out regional exercises throughout the year to better prepare their national report.

The periodic reports of Arab countries are to be submitted by 15 December of 2022 for examination by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2023.